


Thinking Of You

by momentsintimex



Category: To All the Boys I've Loved Before Series - Jenny Han, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humor, kitty helps peter with everything, peter tries to be a good boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-14 18:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16497713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momentsintimex/pseuds/momentsintimex
Summary: Peter gets into this awful habit of running to Kitty whenever he wants to do something nice for Lara Jean. It's innocent, really, he just wants to make sure everything is perfect and he makes her the happiest person in the world, but he knows he really should be doing this on his own.Luckily, Kitty loves to help in whatever way possible.--or the three times Peter asks Kitty for help, and the one time he does it on his own.





	Thinking Of You

**Author's Note:**

> title of fic from Thinking of You by Austin McKenzie :)
> 
> hope you enjoy!

**i.**

Peter Kavinsky stands at the Covey’s front door armed with Sour Patch Kids and a bottle of Vanilla Coke, waiting for someone to answer the door.

“Lara Jean is at Chris’ house,” Kitty says when she opens the door to find Peter standing there. “I thought she would’ve told you so you didn’t bring all that over.”

She’s staring straight at Peter’s arm that isn’t in the sling from his unfortunate lacrosse injury, noticing the Sour Patch and Vanilla Coke, her eyes widening.

“Actually, kid, I’m here for you,” He says, smiling when Kitty opens the door wider to let him in. “Did Lara Jean tell you we’re going on the ski trip in a few weeks?”

Kitty furrows her eyebrows, crossing her arms over her chest. “She did, but I didn’t believe her. She doesn’t ski.”

Peter laughs, shaking his head. “Well, she’s coming on the ski trip with me,” He assures Kitty, although she still looks skeptical. “And I know she likes those yogurt drinks you bring when I drive you to school. Want to come on an adventure with me to get them to surprise her with on the trip?”

Kitty looks back into the house, sighing. “I’d have to ask my dad.”

“He already knows,” Peter replies coolly, raising his eyebrows. “I brought you these.”

“As a bribe?” Kitty smirks, but she takes the Sour Patch Kids and the soda anyway, walking over to slip on her shoes. “I’ll go with you, but only because my plans fell through and I don’t want to be here with just my dad.”

She and Peter say a quick goodbye to Dr. Covey, walking back out to Peter’s car. “Can you even be driving? You have one hand.”

Peter leans around to start the car, eyeing Kitty. "I'm perfectly capable of driving with one hand,” He assures her, but she buckles her seatbelt and pulls the strap tight, leaning back in her seat. “Besides, I’m probably a better driver than Lara Jean is with two hands.”

Kitty smiles, shrugging. “Okay, true. But don’t kill me,” She warns, but there’s a hint of seriousness behind it and Peter can’t help but laugh, plugging the Korean market’s address into his GPS and beginning to drive.

It’s the first time he and Kitty have really hung out since this whole fake dating thing had begun. He’d driven her to school a few times alone, or on rare occasions they would be left in the living room together when he’d be at their house, but planning this adventure had been a long shot and he finds himself wondering why he couldn’t do this himself instead of asking his fake girlfriend’s sister to come along with him for fun.

“So how did you get Lara Jean to agree to go on the ski trip with you?” Kitty asks when he stops at a stoplight not far from the grocery store, taking a sip of her soda. “Because one time our dad took us tubing and she hated it. So how is she going to like skiing if she didn’t even like sitting in an inner tube and just sledding down the hill without doing any work?”

Peter can’t help but laugh, shaking his head. “I told her that everyone goes on the ski trip who’s dating someone, and that if she let me go alone people would probably think something happened between the two of us. It wasn’t that hard,” He shrugs, watching as Kitty eyes him for a moment.

It’s almost too hard to lie to a preteen, and suddenly Peter can’t help but feel like she doesn’t believe him in the slightest.

“Well, you’ll have to let me know if she really does end up skiing with you. And if she falls, I want videos. Sacrifice helping her to get a video so I can tease her,” Kitty says seriously, and Peter bursts out laughing as he pulls into the parking lot, finding a spot.

“See, I didn’t kill you,” Peter smiles as they walk through the parking lot, wrapping his arm that isn’t in the sling over Kitty’s shoulder.

“Save your enthusiasm, Kavinsky. We still have the ride home,” She reminds him, grabbing a basket from the front of the store as she leads him through the aisles.

The trip quickly turns into Peter letting Kitty lead them around the store, grabbing the yogurt drinks and a few of her other favorite snacks. They spent far too long there, Peter mostly worried that Lara Jean would beat them home and he’d have to explain why he was out with her little sister, but Kitty seemed to be enjoying herself and he really was having a good day and didn’t want to ruin that.

Half of this fake relationship felt like impressing Kitty as well. Just in case anything were to happen for real.

“You’re sure we got everything?” He asks one final time while they’re waiting in line, looking down at Kitty while she holds the basket for them.

Kitty rolls her eyes, moving up in line and beginning to set their things up. “We got everything. If you’re trying to impress her, you’re going to succeed. And she’s probably going to be even more in love with you than she already is.”

Peter tries to ignore what Kitty had said, grabbing two snacks at the register for them before paying for their things quickly, Kitty grabbing everything so they could walk out to the car.

“What do you mean she’ll be even more in love with me?” He finally asks as he starts the car, glancing over at Kitty as she grabs her soda from the cupholder again, situating their groceries at her feet.

“You can’t be serious,” She mumbles, her head falling back against the headrest. “The way she looks at you is so gross. She likes you. A lot. And you two are happy together. It’s kind of gross,” She makes a face, digging through their bag of things to find the gummy worms she watched Peter throw in at the register.

Peter nods, biting his lip until the smile that’s threatening to spread across his face stops, turning the radio a little louder in an effort to stop thinking about how his fake girlfriend’s little sister believes all of this _and_ believes that Lara Jean likes him just as much as he likes her.

He wishes this was a scenario where he could ask if it was a good time to ask her out then, but then it would give away the fact that this has all been fake. And judging by the way Lara Jean was hesitant to have their families involved at all he figured he probably shouldn’t even imply that this wasn’t real.

“I see the way you look at her, too, by the way,” Kitty says after they’re well on their way home, sticking a gummy worm out for Peter to take. “You look at her like she’s the best thing in the world. I know I’m young, but I’m not dumb. You really like my sister.”

Peter bites off a piece of the gummy worm, fully aware that he’s bright red and desperately trying to hide it from Kitty. “You’re way too observational for your own good, kid,” He teases, but Kitty just laughs and plugs in her phone, turning on some song that Peter’s heard Owen play a million times before.

He drops Kitty off and thanks her again for coming, watching as she slides out of the front seat and turns back to look at him. “Don’t hurt my sister, okay? She likes you a lot. Don’t ruin it,” She warns seriously before a smile spreads across her face. “And thanks for not killing me today. You were right, you _are_ a better drive than Lara Jean, even with one hand.”

He laughs as she turns on her heels and walks to the front door, waiting until she’s safely inside before he pulls away, making his way back to his house.

He doesn’t stop thinking about everything Kitty had said to him that afternoon, but he does admit that the nervousness surrounding making this whole scenario real is slowly disappearing, and for the first time he thinks that maybe Lara Jean will actually say yes to being his girlfriend for real.

—

**ii.**

It’s not that Peter hadn’t been trying to impress Lara Jean when they were fake dating — he thinks he actually spent most of the time doing everything to show her that he really did care about her — but there’s something about impressing Lara Jean on the first big occasion since they had made things official that made Peter feel like he was under the most pressure of his life.

Her birthday was the first thing to come around since they had made things official, and while they had never been the type of people to go all out for any sort of celebration, Peter had wanted to make things special for her.

He tried to think of nice things to do on his own, tried to come up with something that he knew Lara Jean would love, but whenever he thought he had a good idea someone would make him feel like it wasn’t enough. And so he was back to square one a week before her birthday without an idea for what they could do or what he should even get her, and the pressure felt more intense than ever before.

He was hoping an afternoon at the Covey's would help with sparking some inspiration, but Lara Jean had mentioned that she had a headache and she didn’t want to do anything but lay on the couch and binge watch a Netflix show, and so he agreed, quickly realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to ask a million questions or be stealthy and try to figure something out.

Lara Jean disappears upstairs for another blanket when she realizes that the ones for downstairs were in the wash, leaving Peter alone for a minute just as Kitty walks into the kitchen to get a snack before dinner.

“Hey, kid,” Peter smiles, standing up from the sofa to walk over to sit at the island. “Can I ask you something?”

Kitty sighs, looking up from where she had been cutting her apple. “What is it?”

“So Lara Jean's birthday is next week, and I’m kind of stuck on what to get her. Do you have any idea of something she would want?”

Kitty chews on her lip, tapping her fingers against the counter like she’s contemplating if she should tell him that she knows anything. Peter really has come to grow used to Kitty’s dramatics like this, but right now he knows it’s a race against time until Lara Jean comes back downstairs, and he just needs an answer.

“There’s a necklace at your mom’s store,” She finally says, grabbing her phone from the other side of the kitchen and scrolling through her photos. “I was going to show Daddy it as an idea, but he already got her something. It’s kind of expensive though.”

She clicks through her phone a few times, Peter’s phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulls it out and looks at the photo Kitty sent, immediately recognizing the necklace that had been hanging in his mom's shop for the last few months.

He nods, hearing Lara Jean’s footsteps coming down the steps as he quickly pockets his phone, smiling at Kitty. “Thanks, kid. You’re a lifesaver.”

Kitty smiles, throwing her knife into the sink. “Whatever, Kavinsky. Just make sure to give me a little credit.”

Lara Jean returns to the kitchen and smiles at the both of them, taking Peter’s hand as they walk back over to the sofa, spending the rest of their night binging episodes on Netflix until Lara Jean fell against Peter's shoulder, half asleep with her fingers intertwined with his.

*

It wasn’t all that unusual for Peter to spend weekends at his mom’s store, helping out and greeting customers when he knew it would get busy. He’d always been like this, but he started doing it more once his parents divorced and he could tell that his mom was a little overwhelmed with managing the shop by herself. So he would bring Owen with him and the two of them would hang out in the store all day, Owen playing on Peter’s iPad while Peter helped people with whatever they needed.

It had slowed down a little during the school year, lacrosse and a social life taking over. He always came when his mom needed him, but it had been months since things had been too busy for her to handle and so when Peter shows up with lunch in his hand and a smile on his face, she knows he’s not here just to be helpful.

His mom brings him up to the front, the two of them using the counter as a makeshift table for them to eat. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here today,” She smiles, taking a bite of her sandwich. “Are you here for a special reason, or are you just being a good son and coming to spend time with me? I imagine there’s plenty of other things you could be doing.”

Peter knows she knows the answer, but he smiles anyway, shaking his head. “I mean, it’s nice to come here and spend time with you,” He begins, but she just raises her eyebrows, handing him a bottle of water from her bag behind the counter. “But I, uh, I was kind of looking for something?”

“What is it you’re looking for?”

Peter looks around the store as if he’d magically be able to see the necklace hanging in front of him before he finally pulls his phone from his pocket, scrolling through his messages until he finds the photo from Kitty.

“Do you still have this?” He asks, pushing his phone into her hands without thinking much about it. He doesn’t know why he suddenly feels nervous, but he can’t even look at his mom as she studies the necklace, looking back at him.

“We do, but it's kind of expensive,” She sighs, handing his phone back to him. “Did you want to get it?”

He chews on the inside of his lip, nodding quickly. “It’s Lara Jean’s birthday this week, and I asked her sister if there was anything she wanted and she said that she’d been eyeing this. I didn’t know it was expensive, though. Kitty just said that she was going to tell her dad about it because it was a little expensive, but her dad already got Lara Jean something.”

Peter’s mom nods, tapping her fingers against the counter in a way that lets Peter know she’s thinking about something. It’s been her tell since he was little, and although he suddenly feels really stupid for asking about the necklace at all, he can’t bring himself to tell her to forget about it and he’d figure something else out to give her.

“I’ll let you buy it,” She finally says when Peter goes to throw out their things, watching him as he freezes halfway to the trash can, his back facing her. “I know it’s expensive, honey, but you could pay me a little bit now, and then spend your weekends working here to pay off the rest?” She offers.

Peter turns around, looking back at his mom. “Are you sure? Like, you’d let me do that?” He asks, but it’s still kind of unbelievable and he isn’t sure if this is just all some sort of elaborate trick his mom is playing on him.

But she smiles, nodding as she stands up to get ready to go back to work. “As long as you pay me back for it, I don’t see why you can’t do it this way. Do you think you can handle actually working a few weekends?” She teases, raising her eyebrows as she looks back at her son.

Peter nods immediately, grabbing his car keys off the counter as he follows his mom back to where the necklace is displayed in the store. He’s almost too afraid to touch it, but gently takes the necklace from her hand, holding it up and studying it for a moment.

He understands why Lara Jean loves it so much the minute he lays his eyes on it, and ends up spending the next few minutes thinking about Lara Jean’s reaction when he gives it to her in a few days.

“You really like this girl, don’t you?” His mom says, breaking his train of thought. He looks up to find her smiling at him, locking up the case and turning back to him.

“Yeah,” He nods, “I do.”

She just rubs his back, leaning up on her tip toes to kiss his cheek. “It’s nice to see you so happy, baby. I’m glad you found someone like Lara Jean.”

Peter feels like his face is on fire, but he manages a smile and nods anyway, following her back up to the counter to get a box for the necklace. “I’m glad I found someone like her, too.”

*

Lara Jean didn't like making a big deal about her birthday, so when she asks Peter if they can just go to dinner instead of making it a big thing, he immediately agrees.

She picks an Italian place on the other side of town after Peter says that going to Panera isn’t fancy enough, letting Peter take control of making reservations and getting them there. She spends hours asking Kitty for advice on what to wear, Skypes Margot at an appropriate time to make sure she looks okay, and then promptly ignores Kitty’s teasing and her dad’s constant reminders to be home by curfew as she follows Peter out the door and back to his car.

“This place feels way too fancy,” Lara Jean sighs once they slide into their table, making Peter laugh as he shakes his head.

“Panera is like glorified fast food. That wasn’t fancy enough for your birthday,” He counters, but Lara Jean just smiles and shrugs, picking up her menu to glance through.

"I did say we could just go to the diner.”

“That’s not any better and you know it.”

Peter doesn’t know if he’s ever felt at ease like this with someone other than his family. Gen had never made him feel so at ease, so comfortable with being on a date and celebrating just being together and really just not expecting anything in return. He constantly felt like he had to impress Gen, had to make things bigger than the last time, but Lara Jean isn’t like that.

He likes this feeling. Of just being happy without having to worry about anything else.

They eat their dinner and talk about anything that comes to mind, and by the time the waitress takes their plates Peter almost forgets that there’s a necklace resting in his pocket waiting to be given as a gift. He had been agonizing over when to bring it out, if doing it in the restaurant or waiting until later is the right move, but nothing really feels right to him and so he decides to just hold onto it, waiting until after dessert to decide.

“After I pay can we go somewhere else?” He asks when the waitress brings the check, Lara Jean finishing the last of her cake.

“You should let me pay for half.”

Peter immediately shakes his head, pulling out his card before she has a chance to grab the check. “No way! It’s your birthday, you’re not paying for your own birthday dinner.”

Lara Jean looks like she’s going to argue it, but Peter raises his eyebrows and so she just rolls her eyes, smiling as she reaches for one last sip of her drink before they left.

“We can go where you want to, by the way,” Lara Jean mumbles as they walk back into the Winter air, Peter reaching for her hand the second they’re back outside. He just smiles at her, doesn’t say anything, and leads her to the park just a few blocks away from the restaurant and where they had parked.

The park was always notoriously late at pulling down Christmas decorations — Lara Jean swears she remembers them declaring that they’re Winter decorations, but Margot and Peter both don’t think that actually happened — but Peter could remember her talking about how she liked it because it made the never-ending snow more magical than before.

“So, I know you told me that I shouldn’t get you a gift, but —“

“Peter,” Lara Jean whines, cutting off whatever Peter was going to say as he laughs, shaking his head.

“Will you just let me finish?” He asks, pulling her closer to the Christmas lights while still holding her hand. She nods, but she looks embarrassed and for a split second Peter almost wonders if he’s doing too much too soon.

“I couldn’t resist getting you this. And I don’t want you to ask questions or wonder how I knew, I just… I want you to enjoy it,” He says quietly, fishing the box that contains the necklace from his pocket, admiring the wrapping that his mom did for him after he messed up three times and she said he was wasting her good wrapping paper.

“Peter…” Lara Jean says quietly, carefully unwrapping the box and opening it, gasping. “Oh my god.”

“You like it?” He asks, watching as she takes it out of the box, holding it out in front of her. He doesn’t even realize she’s about to cry until she sucks her bottom lip between her teeth, studying the necklace and nodding quickly.

“How did you know?” She asks quietly, letting Peter help her latch it on her neck.

“I told you you couldn’t ask any questions,” He whispers, pulling her close to kiss her forehead. “I asked Kitty if you were asking for anything in particular.”

Lara Jean laughs, shaking her head as she falls against his chest. “You’re too good for me, Peter Kavinsky,” She says, lifting her head from his chest to stand on her tip toes and kiss him properly.

In that moment, Peter knew he had done the right thing, and he had never been happier.

—

**iii.**

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about what’s bothering you?” Peter asks for what feels like the millionth time since they’d left school, wondering how many more times he could ask before Lara Jean got mad at him as well.

But she has the patience of a saint, and so for the millionth time that car ride, she just shakes her head, somehow sinking further into her seat. “I just… I need some time alone. Do you mind getting Kitty and Owen by yourself today?”

It had become tradition to pick Owen and Kitty up from school a few times a week, giving their the younger two the chance to not have to ride the bus every day. Peter didn’t want to do it alone, but it was pretty obvious that Lara Jean’s bad day had been pretty awful, and he didn’t want to make her do something that she clearly wasn’t up for.

“Of course, I can do it. I’ll take them somewhere to give you time alone,” He offers, watching Lara Jean as she smiles and nods, reaching over to grab his free hand, bringing it up to kiss softly.

“You’re the best,” She smiles, and the rest of the ride home is filled with the music playing quietly and Lara Jean caressing the back of Peter’s free hand with her thumb.

She kisses him goodbye quickly when he pulls in front of her house, squeezing his hand. “You’re the best, seriously. I promise I’ll make this up to you,” She says quietly, kissing him again before hopping out of the car and walking up to the house.

He figured there would be a day where he would go pick up Owen and Kitty alone, but the constant nagging in the back of his mind that he did something to Lara Jean to make her this upset can’t even be drowned out by his music, and he isn’t really sure what to do. So he just sits in the pickup line with his music playing quietly scrolling through social media, trying not to overthink the fact that his girlfriend is sitting at home because she’s not having a good day.

“Where is Lara Jean?” Kitty asks as she slips into the back seat, moving across for Owen to climb in as well.

“Wow, not even a hello?” Peter jokes, glancing back at the two of them as they get settled. “She wasn’t having a good day, so I said I’d come get you guys alone so she could be alone for a little bit.”

Both kids nod, requesting a radio station as Peter pulls out of school. “I was thinking about maybe doing something nice for her. Cheer her up. Do you guys want to help? Go to the store with me and get some things?”

“She likes to bake,” Kitty says passively, digging through her bag for a snack she had leftover from lunch.

“We could make cupcakes?” Owen pipes up, smiling when his brother looks back at him. “Kitty says she likes making them! I think she’d like them.”

And so without really thinking about how horrible this could really go he sets off for the grocery store with two 10 year olds, following them into the store as he quickly looks up a recipe to Lara Jean’s favorite cupcakes on his phone to make sure that he got everything he needed to make them.

He never really understood why Lara Jean got so frustrated when she would talk about how Kitty helped her bake some weekends, but after spending over an hour in his kitchen making a mess that was bad enough for him to worry his mom was going to kill him, he completely understood.

Owen and Kitty had been less than helpful, made more of a mess than anything else, and there was a pretty good chance these cupcakes weren’t going to turn out at all.

“You do know Lara Jean doesn’t like canned icing, right?” Kitty asks, her elbows resting against the newly cleaned counter.

“I know,” Peter mumbles, sighing as he sets the can of frosting they had bought aside. “So we’re making homemade frosting then,” He concedes, because the look Kitty is giving him is terrifying and he really doesn’t want to disappoint Lara Jean when she’s had a bad enough day as it is.

Making the frosting goes decidedly better than the cupcake batter, and as Peter gently ushers both Owen and Kitty away from the oven before they burn their fingers, pulling the cupcakes out.

"They don't look awful," Kitty decides after she’s stared at them since they’ve been out of the oven.

Peter can’t help but laugh, filling the dishwasher with the rest of the dirty dishes. “I’m sure they’re not as good as Lara Jean’s, but we did our best and I think that counts for something."

Kitty rolls her eyes, glancing back to where Peter is standing. “I don’t think trying our best works when it comes to baking and Lara Jean. But she loves you, so maybe she’ll overlook the fact that our cupcakes are less than great.”

Peter tries not to react to the fact that Kitty just said Lara Jean loves him. They hadn’t technically said it to each other yet, but Peter had been feeling that way for a long time. He loved her and somewhere along the way he found it difficult to imagine his life without her, even though things were most definitely not perfect and he could be much better at this whole relationship thing with someone he spent months fake dating. But hearing that she loves him makes him realize that maybe things are going better than he thought, maybe he didn’t need to be so nervous about everything all the time.

Things were so good, and for some reason he hoped that these cupcakes didn’t suddenly make things worse.

Kitty and Owen ice two cupcakes each before they give up and steal one to eat themselves, Peter glancing over at them while he finishes icing the cupcakes. “How are they? Awful?” He asks, but he’s almost too afraid of whatever answer they’re going to give him.

“They’re surprisingly not bad,” Kitty shrugs, taking another bite before looking to Owen.

“I thought they’d be much worse,” Owen agrees, and Peter hates that the wave of relief washes over him as if they were real food critics.

He packs them up in a cupcake holder his mom pulls down for him when she’s home from work, he and Kitty setting off for home with Kitty holding the cupcakes on her lap.

They don’t say anything on the way there, but Kitty obviously can tell that Peter isn’t acting his normal self, and so when he shifts the car into park in front of the Covey’s she rolls her eyes and sighs, turning towards him.

“Even if these are the worst cupcakes she’s ever eaten — which they aren’t, by the way — she’s going to like that you did something nice for her. Stop worrying so much,” She says, handing the cupcakes over to him as she slides out of the car.

Kitty opens the front door, which means Peter doesn’t even have to wait after knocking to compose himself. He follows her inside, smiling when Lara Jean is in the kitchen, finishing up dinner before their dad gets home.

“I’m going upstairs,” Kitty announces, running up the steps after giving Peter an encouraging smile.

“What did you bring over?” Lara Jean asks, breaking Peter out of the trance he had been in, turning back to her. He doesn’t answer, and so Lara Jean nods towards the cupcakes in his hand, smiling.

“Oh,” Peter nods, walking over to the kitchen and setting the box on the counter, leaning down to kiss Lara Jean quickly. “Well, I knew you were having a bad day and so Kitty, Owen and I decided to make you cupcakes. I mean, I did most of it, but it was their idea,” He says, quickly shaking his head. “It’s stupid, I know. I should’ve just gotten you candy or something.”

Lara Jean laughs quietly, resting her hand on his arm. “Peter, I love it,” She promises quietly, standing on her tip toes to kiss him. “You really didn’t have to do that. This is why you’re my favorite,” She smirks, opening the cupcake container and pulling one out.

“You don’t have to lie if they’re horrible. Kitty and Owen both liked them, but they’ll eat pretty much anything,” Peter smiles, sliding into a seat at the island.

Lara Jean takes a bite, her eyebrows raising in surprise. “Wow, Peter. They’re actually not bad,” She says, swallowing her bite before taking another. “I can’t believe you actually made these. From scratch?”

Peter nods, reaching out for one for himself, mildly surprised at how good they actually were. “It was the hardest thing in my life.”

“Well, maybe if I open a bakery when we’re older I’ll hire you. You actually have potential,” She teases, leaning over to kiss him again.

Peter doesn’t know if she’s lying or not, but right now it doesn’t matter. She’s smiling, she seems like she’s in a better mood, and for once he’s letting his mind admit to itself that he really is in love with the girl he first kissed way back in 7th grade.

—

**iv.**

Kitty was an incredible helper when it came to planning special moments for Lara Jean. Peter was always impressed at how she always seemed to have an answer when he would ask her for ideas, but he knew at some point he couldn’t ask her for help.

And their first anniversary is the perfect moment to be able to do this completely on his own.

He's written down a million things on a piece of paper before eventually throwing them all out, shrugging away his mom’s suggestions she had been giving him while finishing up dinner.

“I’ve asked for help for things too many times when it comes to Lara Jean. I need to do this on my own. This is special,” He argues, but his mom just smiles and shakes his head, nudging his arm as she tries to set the table around him.

“You’re overthinking it,” She says gently, rubbing his shoulder. “I’m not going to give you ideas, but keep it simple,” She smiles, kissing his head as she finishes setting the table, calling Owen down for dinner.

Peter spends the rest of the night sitting up overthinking it, trying to come up with the most elaborate plan to show Lara Jean how much he loves her and how much she means to him.

It’s only when he’s half asleep that he comes up with the best plan, quickly writing it down in his notes so he doesn’t forget it.

*

The minute Lara Jean had found out Peter was planning something for their first anniversary, she’d been peppering him with questions. She started out subtle, asking what kind of clothes she should wear and reminding him that she didn’t want to do anything fancy because it didn’t seem like something they would do.

She enlisted Kitty to ask Peter questions to try to get him to spill, but Peter catches on too quickly and just smiles at the youngest Covey, shaking his head. “Good try, kid. I know your sister put you up to this, and I’m not telling you anything about what I have planned,” He smiled, and Kitty just laughed and ran upstairs to tell Lara Jean that her plan didn't work.

Now she’s just gone the annoying route, and since it’s finally the day she doesn’t think it’s really the right time to have shame in asking over and over what they’re doing. It’s just killing her, and she thinks she’d feel better if she at least knew something about their plans.

"Please just tell me what we’re doing,” Lara Jean begs when they meet up in between classes, squeezing his hand as they walk towards their next class. “It’s literally killing me to not know.”

Peter laughs, pulling her close and kissing the top of her head. “It’s not a surprise if I tell you right now. Just be ready at 6, and don’t dress too nice.”

Lara Jean pouts for a moment before nodding, but Peter knows it’s not going to be the last time she asks.

“Just trust me. You’re going to love it. I wouldn’t do something you don't love,” He mumbles, kissing her quickly before she walks into her classroom.

*

Peter’s mom leaves the shop early to help him make dinner for he and Lara Jean, packing it up in the old picnic basket he and Owen had found in the attic a few weeks before when they had been cleaning it out. Peter asked her not to make a big deal about all of this, but it’s obvious she’s biting her tongue in an effort to not talk about it, and so he turns and smiles to her when he grabs the drinks out of the fridge.

“Thank you for helping me,” He says, placing the drinks carefully into the basket. “You really didn’t have to leave work early just for me.”

“It’s not a big deal, sweetheart. I’ve been working too much lately, anyway,” She counters, but Peter knows she’s been working so much because the holidays had just passed and she’s still trying to make up for things since their dad had left.

Peter just nods, double checking that he has everything before he closes up the basket, turning to face his mom so she can fix his hair the way he knows she’s been dying to this whole time.

And she does go to fix his hair, running her hands through his messy curls as she smiles, moving her hands to rest on his shoulders. “I’m really glad you found someone like Lara Jean, honey. That you’re so happy with her. You deserve this, you deserve to have someone like her in your life. You deserve to be this happy.”

Peter’s not dumb, he knows that she’s saying all of this because the last two years have been the worst years of his life, but he nods and hugs her anyway, holding onto her just a little longer when he realizes how much this means to her, too.

He wasn’t a good person the last two years. He had gotten hurt a lot, bottled it up, and his mom was worried. But this is a good moment, and he wants her to be able to celebrate the fact that things finally look like they’re getting better for him.

The drive to Lara Jean’s seems to go quicker than ever before, and before he can even think about things he’s knocking on her front door, smiling when Dr. Covey answers.

“She’s almost ready, I promise,” He says, inviting Peter inside as he stands in the doorway. “Don’t be home too late, and no funny business,” He says quickly when Lara Jean’s footsteps start coming down the steps, smiling when she appears in the doorway.

She took his advice, wearing jeans and a sweater with her hair down the way she knows he likes it. She smiles, walking over and kissing him quickly before turning back to the kitchen. “We’ll be back, Dad!” She calls, her dad poking his head around the corner.

“Have fun, you guys,” He smiles, waving as the two of them walk out the door and back to Peter’s car.

“So we’re not actually driving anywhere,” He begins, laughing when Lara Jean stares at him in confusion. “Just trust me,” He reminds her, kissing her quickly before grabbing the basket out of the backseat as he took her hand.

He leads her back through her backyard and over to the treehouse they spent their summers in as kids. “Surprise,” He mumbles, letting her climb up first so he can hand her the basket, following her up and getting situated.

He had stopped by the day before when he knew Lara Jean was over at Chris’, setting out candles for the two of them that he carefully lights once they’re settled in. It’s much smaller than he remembers, but Lara Jean is beaming and once he sits down she leans over to kiss him, letting him grab the food he had packed out of the basket.

“I can’t believe you thought of all of this,” She smiles, taking a bite of her sandwich. “This used to be our favorite place when we were younger.”

Peter nods, waiting until he swallows a bite of his sandwich before talking. “Anything else I could think of was too fancy for us. So then I thought about how this used to be our favorite place, we used to spend all our time here, and so I just decided that it would be perfect if we spent our anniversary in the place that means the most to us.”

“I love it,” She smiles, digging through the basket to pull out dessert for the two of them.

Peter manages to wiggle his way to sit next to Lara Jean once they’re done eating, wrapping his arm around her shoulder to pull her against him. She buries her head in his shoulder like she does every other time, only pulling back to kiss him quickly.

“This was the best surprise you could’ve ever given me,” She mumbles, her hand resting against his chest. “I love you, Peter Kavinsky. Happy anniversary.”

Peter smiles, pressing his lips to her hair. “I love you too, Lara Jean Song-Covey. Happy anniversary.”

The two of them sit there until the candles begin to blow out with the wind coming through the window, their curfew quickly approaching for a school night. And while Peter really thinks he could stay in this moment for the rest of his life and never get tired of it, he has a gut feeling that there are many more years of moments like this ahead of him.

Lara Jean Song-Covey was exactly the person he had needed in his life without even realizing it, and he’d gladly plan a million more anniversaries like this if it meant she’d be by his side for all of them.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! i literally can't resist writing these two :)
> 
> after weeks (or months? time is flying by) of telling myself i wouldn't write an actual chaptered fic of these two, i started writing a chapter fic of these two. hopefully i'll start posting it within the next week or two (i like to write ahead a little bit so i have some written haha) and hopefully you guys like it!
> 
> <3


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